In 1670 King Charles II chartered a new company to be called Hudson's Bay Company and set aside all lands draining into Hudson's Bay for the use of this company. He named this area Rupert's Land in honour of his cousin Prince Rupert.

Rupert's Land formed the western & northern boundary of New France and extended west from Labrador to the Rocky Mountains.

It covered an area nearly eight million square kilometres and included all of present-day Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and parts of the North-West Territory, Quebec, Manitoba, Nunavut, Newfoundland, Labrador and Ontario.

In 1870 Rupert's Land was purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company by the Dominion of Canada for £300,000. This allowed Canada to expand westward.

Rupert's Land was then known as the North-West Territories until Ontario and Manitoba expanded northward.